America’s heritage of free speech as relevant as it ever was

By National Free Speech Week begins today and serves as a reminder to all of our important First Amendment rights that we as Americans enjoy and often take for granted.

In this ever-changing world where the Internet and mobile devices have revolutionized our ability to communicate, there has never been a time in history when an individual’s ability to share his or her speech has been so free.

But a series of recent and unrelated events bring to light that our free speech rights continue to evolve.

The U.S. Supreme Court has two significant free speech cases before it. In what has been called the Son of Citizens United, an Alabama businessman is arguing that a Federal Election Commission rule mandating contribution limits of $123,200 in a two-year election cycle infringes on his right to free speech. And a law in Massachusetts creating a

35-foot buffer zone outside abortion clinics, as a measure to reduce intimidation and harassment on patients, is likewise being challenged as a violation on the right to freely assemble.

In June, Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency has been collecting communication data on Americans and foreigners on a much larger scale than previously thought, as part of its anti-terrorism effort. Depending on your perspective, he is a hero or a traitor.

Over the past two weeks, 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize contender, has been a frequent and outspoken critic of the Taliban and engaged in conversation with President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and daughter Malia at the White House. This brave young Pakistani student was shot in the head one year ago for advocating that females should have the same opportunities as males to attend school and receive an education.

Worldwide attention to the issue of freedom of speech is neither new, nor unique to the Internet age.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 resulted in the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-

Americans living on the mainland, as well as detainment of many Japanese community leaders here who published newspapers, ran language schools and headed Buddhist temples.

The same freedoms that form the foundation of our democracy and attracted immigrants to America’s shores — beginning with the Pilgrims and Puritans — were stripped from the Japanese community with a few strokes of a pen.

For fear of political retribution, Hawaii’s Japanese burned their kimonos, language books and altars.

For nearly a quarter of a century, ‘Olelo Community Media has built a legacy of

allowing the public access to training, production facilities and equipment. Programs are aired without charge on our four television channels.

Organizers of Free Speech Week encourage Americans to raise awareness of free speech by talking about it with family and friends, and by exercising your own free speech right through various means, such as by composing a poem, posting a message or video online, speaking out at a rally, or by writing a letter to the editor.

In the words of those who organize the commemoration of free speech: "Life in America would not be the same without it."

Let’s use it, so we don’t lose it.

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On leave: The ‘ David Brooks, whose column usually runs here on Mondays, is on book leave until early December.